Time After Time

Chapter Six: I Will Catch You, I Will Be Waiting

It seemed as if Severus was more than willing to return to Hogwarts earlier than expected, once Hermione had opened up to him completely. However, Hermione informed her new beau that such a thing would look suspicious. So, they decided to bide their time, while having Minerva spy on Professor Quirrell on their behalf. The last thing they wanted was for the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor to use the remainder of the Easter holidays to abscond from the castle and get Marvolo Gaunt's ring.

"You mentioned that Dumbledore deliberately keeps Potter at the Dursleys," Severus said quietly on their final night at the manor.

Hermione nodded; the interlude had been blissful, considering they had vanquished not one but two Horcruxes, and their hosts seemed to be none the wiser. She snuggled closer to Severus in his bed; they had decided to sleep in the same bed for the duration of their stay, and she wondered if Severus would want her and Sharma to stay in the dungeons with him upon their return to Hogwarts. "He did, yes," she replied. "Or, I suppose, does."

Severus gently caressed her bare arm, and pulled her closer. "Where does his treachery end, I wonder? I may not have liked Potter's parentage, but I am beginning to understand him more fully now, considering how you've informed me of his treatment at the hands of those dreadful Muggles meant to protect him..."

Hermione swallowed, and shifted away from him; she sat up, and drew her knees towards her chest, and was shaking. "There is something I haven't told you about Dumbledore."

Severus, too, sat up. "Tell me."

Hermione sighed. "Well, when you were killed, when Harry, Ron, and I witnessed it... Well, you were headmaster," she whispered.

Severus looked shocked at this. "You informed me that I would become Defense Against the Dark Arts professor your sixth-year..."

"You know as well as I do that no one lasts more than a year in that post. At least, not in the time I was at Hogwarts," she explained.

Severus considered that for a moment. "Did Dumbledore know that my elimination, or, rather, my execution, was on the horizon?"

"He could have possibly foreseen it," Hermione said, biting down hard on her lower lip. "Of course, he had to make the entire Wizarding World hate you first."

"Hate me?" Severus asked. "I know that I'm no one's favorite person, although most of my Slytherins seemed to like me, alongside the vast majority of the Hogwarts staff..." He reached forward in the darkness and gently took ahold of her hand. "Hermione, whatever it is, tell me now. I'll not hold it against you."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she forced herself to turn and face him, her vision blinded by unshed tears. "Severus, he uses your debt to him to make you kill him."

Severus visibly stiffened. "Kill him? I killed Dumbledore?"

Hermione nodded. "Harry was a witness, because Dumbledore stunned him from underneath his invisibility cloak. But, that's not all. You were doubly forced to do so."

Severus looked torn. "Doubly forced? I don't understand."

Hermione wanted nothing more than to move forward, to take him into her arms, but something was holding her back. "Not only did Dumbledore manipulate you into doing so, but Riddle makes the demand that Draco commit the murder to prove himself."

"And I saved him?" Severus asked.

"You saved him," Hermione confirmed, "because Narcissa Malfoy coerced you into an unbreakable vow, with Bellatrix Lestrange witnessing and performing the magic. Of course, Bellatrix didn't help matters by calling you a coward, which swayed your hand, most likely. I know it's not something you like to be called."